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Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers

The cordless SIW 18T-A CPC lithium ion high torque impact wrench from Hilti (Tulsa, OK) packs battery performance into a rugged design for complete mobility, according to the company. The SIW 18T-A achieves an impressive number of fastenings per battery charge, all while allowing the motor to provide maximum torque when needed.

Brady ID (Milwaukee, WI) has announced that it will be expanding its ToughStripe product line to include printable floor labels and pre-spaced floor dots, arrows, and dashes. The printable label cartridges allow users to create custom floor labels, which feature the same durability and performance as the original ToughScripe tape, making them ideal for identifying designated storage locations.

Spiroflow Systems, Inc. and its sister company Spiroflow Ltd. report that over 200 Flexible Screw Conveyor (FSC) systems with integrated Bag Tip Stations known to the industry as ‘flavor feeders’ have been installed and are in operation at plants of leading snack food producers worldwide.

Yikes, Frito-Lay, your environmentally responsible packaging is making it harder for me to sneak a few delicious potato chips. For shame!
About six months ago, Frito-Lay launched the new biodegradable bag for Sun Chips with a splashy marketing campaign that played up that the bags are compostable.

ROYSTON, Ga. (AP) — Beaulieu of America says it's closing its carpet fiber plant in Royston next month, eliminating 192 jobs.
Beaulieu, which is based in Dalton, plans to stop production Nov. 26 at the Royston plant, where spun yarn is manufactured.
The plant ranks among Franklin County's 10 largest employers.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Hutchinson is getting in on the wind turbine business as Siemens Energy starts production at a new $50 million plant in the city.
Plant Manager Claus Ungstrup says the facility already has enough orders to keep it busy through 2011.
It makes 2.3-megawatt wind turbine nacelles, the housings that include the generator, transformer and gearbox.

LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — A federal jury has ordered Transocean to pay more than $4 million in damages to an oilfield worker injured in an offshore rig accident.
The judgment entered Tuesday capped a trial for the lawsuit that 32-year-old Dan Averette filed over the July 14, 2007, accident aboard the Amirante, a rig owned by Transocean Enterprise Inc.

SHANGHAI (AP) — China is not using its control over supplies of rare earth — exotic metals crucial in advanced manufacturing — as a diplomatic "bargaining chip," state media quoted Premier Wen Jiabao as saying during a visit to Europe.
Recent reports that Beijing had temporarily suspended shipments to Japan of the metallic elements, used in computer disk drives, hybrid car components and other high-tech products, has drawn attention to China's near monopoly on the materials.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — West Africa's cocoa industry is still trafficking children and using forced child labor despite nearly a decade of efforts to eliminate the practices, according to an independent audit published by Tulane University.
A U.S.-sponsored solution called the Harkin-Engel Protocol was signed in 2001 by cocoa industry members to identify and eliminate cocoa grown using forced child labor.

ORION TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — General Motors and the United Auto Workers have reached a cost-cutting deal that could help accomplish what once seemed impossible: Making a profit on small cars built in the United States.
The deal, announced Thursday, could cut in half the hourly wage of some longtime UAW workers at a factory in Orion Township, Mich.

NEW YORK (AP) — It's an inconvenient truth: Many of the environmental claims in advertisements and packaging are more about raking in the green than being green.
Aiming to clear up confusion for consumers about what various terms mean, the Federal Trade Commission has revised its guidelines for businesses that make claims about so-called "eco-friendly" products.

Don’t forget that the cost of litigation is not just the attorneys’ fees and out-of-pocket litigation costs that will be incurred, but also includes management and sales personnel time that must be devoted to the case, rather than day-to-day business. In the first two columns of this series ( Part 1 , Part 2 ), we discussed how to minimize the risks of terminating a distribution relationship before the relationship begins and during the relationship.

Northfield Precision Instrument Corporation (Island Park, NY) introduces their 5C Collet Chuck, which is interchangeable with their standard 4” chucks because of an identical bolt pattern. The chuck is air-actuated and uses Northfield’s standard air feed tubes (wet or dry). All components are hardened and ground to 58/63 R.

The SFC downflow cartridge dust collector from United Air Specialists (Cincinnati, OH) uses a filter cleaning system, combined with nanofiber filter cartridges and an optimized cabin design, to deliver high air cleaning efficiency. The SFC uses MERV 15 filter cartridges as standard, which helps the system to be designed with higher air-to-media ratios.

Morse Manufacturing Co., Inc. (East Syracuse, NY) has developed the Clamp+GO! drum dolly handle, which clamps onto dollies with various-sized sidewalls, making it ideal for any drum handling operation. A low center of gravity helps operators maneuver the drum with stability, helping to prevent accidents, and moving to the next dolly only requires a quick touch.

Fluke Corporation (Everett, WA) has introduced its new iFlex flexible current probes, which are designed to make current measurement easier for industrial technicians. The probes use a large coil that allows users to reach around large or awkwardly-shaped conductors up to 6” in diameter, and expands the measurement range of select Fluke meters to 2000 amps.

A British bread maker recently came under fire for a certain disturbing find in a loaf of bread: a cooked, chopped-up mouse. The company was fined about $27,000 for the mistake, which they claim must have happened before the dough was even mixed together. The worst part of the whole story? The tail is missing, and no one's quite sure who might have washed it down with some turkey and cheese.

While most manufacturing processes do not take this level of precision, this "surgery" on a grape proves just how advanced robotic technology has come in recent years. The drive of competition has pushed even the most heavy-duty of industrial robots to become increasingly accurate as well.

Warren Buffet, investor extraordinaire and current CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, recently sat down with CNN 's Poppy Harlow to talk the state of the U.S. economy. With deficits growing, Buffet offers a simple solution: raise taxes on the super-rich, even himself. With more money in the coffers from the greatest capitalist success stories, the country could better afford a tax break for the middle class.

Thanks in part to extensive university research, an American company is pushing to solve a timeless problem: chewing gum that's stuck to just about every surface imaginable. The solution is a chewing gum that retains much more moisture, making it easier to remove for a longer period of time. Even if the gum has hardened out, simply rewetting it can be enough to break the bond.